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Who says crowdfunding will scare off follow-on investors? Quite the contrary, it seems. Businesses are finding that a successful investment crowdfunding campaign can pave the way for follow-on funding from angels, venture capitalists, banks and other institutional investors. The latest—and largest—example to date: Beta Bionics, the maker of a “bionic pancreas” that was among the […]

A pair of cooperatives aiming to put affordable housing and renewable energy in community hands made their official debut on Wednesday in Oakland, Calif. The groups, the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative and People Power Solar Cooperative, were incubated out of the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC), a nonprofit that has nurtured many of […]

The world is grappling with a refugee crisis of massive proportions. More than 65 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, including 22.5 million refugees. One person is displaced due to conflict or persecution nearly every two seconds, according to the United Nations. As the Trump administration battles a caravan of migrants seeking a […]

Since their inception ten years ago, the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio have served as a promising model of economic development in a post-industrial city. The three worker cooperatives—an industrial laundry company, a green energy services contractor, and a hydroponic greenhouse (pictured above)—collectively employ over 200 individuals, many of whom have become worker-owners. In a […]

This past week, while Americans were preparing for Thanksgiving, the government of Canada made a landmark commitment to social finance that we should all be thankful for. In its Fall Economic Statement, the federal government earmarked an unprecedented $805 million to advance social and environmental solutions, as part of its broader push to invest in middle […]

A new impact investing platform is launching this week and its first offering—a financially self-sufficient global nonprofit—signals the type of innovative social enterprises it aims to help. The funding platform, SVX.US, is a three-way collaboration between Cutting Edge Capital, the Bay Area-based community capital consulting firm, Bequia Securities, a broker-dealer, and SVX Canada, an impact […]

Raising money is difficult for any entrepreneur, but veteran-owned small businesses in particular tend to struggle with capital raising. A new program in North Carolina aims to help. INVESTinNC, a Wilmington, NC-based crowdfunding education company, has launched an investment crowdfunding program specifically for veteran entrepreneurs. The company is recruiting six veteran entrepreneurs looking to raise […]

From his perch as founder of Fledge, a network of social impact accelerators, Luni Libes has claimed the role of industry provocateur, critiquing the prevailing Silicon Valley model of investment and agitating for more aligned funding models. In particular, he’s an advocate for revenue-based funding, whether via loans or redeemable equity, where startups buy back […]

Cooperatives are gaining renewed interest as an antidote to our winner-take-all society. But while tech startups have a rich ecosystem to tap into, from accelerators to seed funding to get-big-fast playbooks, new cooperatives are usually left to figure things out on their own. That, says serial coop entrepreneur Greg Brodsky, helps explain why most co-ops […]

Milk Money, a Vermont-only crowd investing portal, has been acquired, signaling a new phase for the platform—and perhaps the intrastate crowdfunding market as well. The two-year old intrastate crowdfunding platform’s new owner is the Vermont Innovation Commons, a regional innovation hub in Burlington combining a startup accelerator, co-working space and residential units under one roof. The […]